Consortia and State or University Systems Users Manual

If you have questions about consortium matters, please contact Dan Bureau, NSSE Consortium Coordinator.

Consortium and system participation broken down by administration year.
List of consortia or systems across all years.

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Consortium Purposes, Definition and Benefits

A consortium is a group of six or more colleges or universities participating in NSSE that wish to share comparative, aggregated data among their institutions.

Consortia and state or university system may also ask up to 20 additional questions that address unique characteristics of the member schools (all consortium institutions will get the same set of questions). Consortium results will not be made public except by agreement between the NSSE project and the consortium coordinator. In addition to sharing aggregated data, for a fee consortium members may also request an additional summary of each consortium institution’s mean responses to NSSE items provided each school agrees to do so. Information about special data analysis is available at:

http://nsse.iub.edu/special_analysis/index.cfm

How to Form a Consortium

Institutions do not need to belong to another pre-existing consortium or system (e.g. Women’s Colleges, CUNY system) to form a NSSE consortium, but all of the participating institutions must be registered and confirmed for NSSE 2008. A list of confirmed institutions will appear on the NSSE Web site and will be updated on a regular basis.

To form a consortium, an institution should identify comparable institutions confirmed for NSSE 2008. NSSE will provide interested institutions with the name and contact information of comparable registered institutions, including those that wish to form a consortium. NSSE staff members can also help institutions identify potential membership in an existing consortium or recommend other institutions they might contact to form a new consortium.

Appointing a Consortium Coordinator

An individual from one of the institutions in the proposed consortium must agree to serve as the Consortium Coordinator. The Consortium Coordinator is responsible for:

• Coordinating communication between participating institutions
• Working with consortium participants to develop additional consortium questions and submit prior to the deadline.

Coordinating any additional data sharing agreements between these institutions and NSSE. Data sharing agreements permit for the exchange of institution-specific information that may be sensitive in nature.

Drafting Additional Consortium Questions

Each consortium or system may ask up to 20 consortium-specific questions. However, some consortia have found asking 5-10 well-written and appropriate consortium questions meets their needs.

In drafting additional questions, it may be wise to involve NSSE project staff. Both NSSE and Indiana University’s Center for Survey Research staff will review potential questions and make recommendations based on best practices in survey administration and compatibility with items in the National Survey of Student Engagement.

Consortium Formation Timeline for NSSE 2008

Frequently Asked Questions

How many schools are needed to form a consortium?
There must be a minimum of six participating institutions to form a consortium. State or university systems may have fewer participating members.

How does the choice of survey administration mode (paper, Web+, or Web-only) affect the formation of a consortium? Do all participating institutions need to use the same format?
Each institution may choose whichever format best meets their needs. Additional consortium questions will be included in packets of those students receiving a paper version and will also be available on the Web for all three modes of survey administration. For Web+ mode institutions, students who receive the paper mailing of the survey will not receive the consortium questions in paper form, although they will see those questions if they complete the Web survey.